Endnotes

1. Sayyid
Najm al-Din is not known other than in this text, but the commentators point out that this
has no negative effect on the chain since the text is mutawatir and of unquestioned
authority. This is a chain of permission and not of transmission; in other words, the text
itself has reached us by many different routes, but permission to teach the present text
in this exact form was handed down by the figures being mentioned. The reason this
particular chain is mentioned was suggested in the introduction. I would add that it is
inconceivable that this chain is a deliberate forgery, since no forger can have been so
incompetent. Of the twelve figures mentioned (at the beginning and in the second chain
toward the end of the preface), five are unknown, four cannot be identified with
certainty, and one is known to have been unreliable.

2. There is some confusion as
to the identity of the 'us' at the beginning of this chain, because it might be either of
two scholars who figure in the various chains of transmission of the Sahifa. Shaykh-i
Baha'i, one of the many authors of commentaries on the Sahifa, maintains that 'us' refers
to 'Ali ibn al-Sukun (i.e., Abu l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sukun al-Hilli, (d. c. 606/1209). In his glosses on the
Sahifa, Mir Damad writes that it is 'Amid al-Ru'asa' Hibat Allah ibn Hamid ibn Ahmad ibn
Ayyub al-Hilli (d. 610/1213-14). To prove his point he quotes from the manuscript of
al-Shahid al-Awwal, who had collated his copy with that of Ibn al-Sukun, on which 'Amid
al-Ru'asa' had made certain annotations in the year 603/1206. Cf. Aqa Buzurg, al-Dhari'a,
s.v. Al-Sahifat al-Sajjadiyya.

3. He was the son-in-law of
Shaykh al-Ta'ifa Abu Ja'far al-Tusi (d. 460/1067-8) and an official at the shrine of 'Ali
in Najaf.

4. Sayyid ''Alikhan writes
that al-'Ukbari does not seem to be mentioned in the books of Shi'ite biographies, but
al-Sam'ani mentions him in al-Ansab (adding ibn al-Husayn to his name after ibn Ahmad) and
gives his date of death as 472/1079-80.

5. Sayyid '''Alikhan quotes
four sources on Abu l-Mufaddal as a muhaddith, all of which question his reliability:
Najashi, Shaykh al-Ta'ifa al-Tusi, Ibn al-Ghada'iri, and Ibn Dawud.

6. Najashi praises his
reliability and mentions a number of works by him. He died in 308/921 at the age of more
than ninety (Sayyid '''Alikhan).

7. According to Sayyid
'''Alikhan, nothing is known about him. In his notes on his Persian translation, Sha'rani
suggests that here some of the authorities originally mentioned in the text may have been
dropped, since only three figures are mentioned over a period of 251 years.

8. Najashi mentions an Ali
ibn al-Nu'man al-A'lam al-Nakhai who was a companion of the eighth Imam, Ridha (d.
203/818).

9. Neither 'Umayr ibn
Mutawakkil nor his father Mutawakkil ibn Harun are known. However both Najashi and Shaykh
al-Tusi speak of al-Mutawakkil ibn 'Umayr ibn al-Mutawakkil as the transmitter of the
Sahifa from Yahya ibn Zayd, and they provide a chain of authority leading from him to
themselves different from that in the present text. As Sha'rani points out (Sahifa, p. 5),
given their early dates and their agreement, the name they provide is to be preferred over
the Present text.

10. This would have been in
the year 122/740. As explained in the introduction, after the death of Zayn al-Abidin's
son and successor, Muhammad al-Baqir, his son Zayd revolted against the Umayyad
authorities and was killed. According to the account being related here, Mutawakkil ibn
Harun (or more properly, Mutawakkil ibn 'Umayr) met Zayd's son Yahya shortly before he was
killed while continuing his father's revolt

11. 13:39. According to
Sayyid ''Alikhan, by quoting this verse, Yahya is suggesting that even if this is the
divine command known to al-Sadiq, God may change it. This is the Shi'ite doctrine of
bad'a, according to which God may appear to change His decree for His creatures. Imam
Ja'far himself quotes this verse to prove the possibility of bad'a.

12. As noted in the
introduction, the use here of the expression Al-Sahifat al-kamila suggests that the Sahifa
was called by this term from earliest times. In explaining the expression, Sayyid
'''Alikhan quotes a passage employing it from Ma'alim al-ulama of Ibn Shahrashub (d.
588/1192).

13. In notes to his Persian
translation, Sha'rani tells us that the term meant a scroll wound around an iron rod, on
the ends of which were placed iron locks, often sealed with wax.

14. Muhammad is better known
as al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. He was designated as the Mahdi by his father and many swore
allegiance to him, including al-Mansur, who later became the first Abbasid caliph.
Muhammad and Ibrahim revolted with a good deal of popular support when the Abbasids tried
to make them accept their authority. Muhammad, who was supported by the people of Medina,
was killed in a fierce battle in 145/762, and Ibrahim, who was supported by the Zaydite
and Mu'tazilite circles of Kufa and Basra, was killed a few months later. Cf. Ja'fari, The
Origins and Early Development, pp. 269-71, 275-6.

15. Isma'il was the eldest
son of Imam Ja'far and his designated successor. However, he died before his father, who
then appointed his second son Musa as the Imam after himself. The Isma'ilis follow Isma'il
as Imam rather than Musa maintaining that the former's appointment was valid and that the
imamate remained in his family.

18. 17:60. The Qur'an
commentators offer at least three possible interpretations for this vision. Concerning the
third, Baydawi writes 'It is also said that the Prophet saw a group of the Umayyads
climbing his pulpit and jumping upon it like monkeys. So he said "This is their share
of this world; they will be given it for accepting Islam". According to this
interpretation, what is meant by a trial for men is what happened during their time'
(Anwar al-tanzil, commentary on 17:60). The Shi'ite commentator Tabarsi also offers this
as a third possibility, providing two hadith to support it (Majma' al-bayan). Sayyid
'''Alikhan quotes from Baydawi and others to support this interpretation, while offering
Ibn 'Abbas among others as authority for the statement that the 'accursed tree' refers to
the Umayyads.

19. 97:1-3. Tirmidhi offers
a hadith going back to al-Hasan ibn 'Ali that supports this interpretation of one thousand
months as referring to the Umayyads (Tafsir sura 97, 1).

25. In other words, the
chapter headings as mentioned in the text, which are often slightly different from the
chapter headings mentioned above, are in al-Hasani's words (that is, al-Sharif Aba 'Abd
Allah, mentioned in verse 4).

35. 'Illiyun', mentioned in
83:18 and 19, and deriving from a root meaning 'high' or 'exalted', is said to be the
highest level of paradise, or a book in paradise wherein the deeds of the righteous are
recorded.

42. Allusion to such
passages as 2:286: God charges no soul save to its capacity.

43. Allusion to 9:33 and
61:9: It is He who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth,
that He may uplift it above every religion though the idolaters be averse.

44. As Sayyid '''Alikhan
points out, there is an allusion here to the hadith of 'mediation' (wasila) according to
one version of which the Prophet said: 'Mediation is a degree with God in the Garden, and
there is no degree higher than it, so pray to God to give me the mediation' (Ahmad III,
83). The fact that this is what the Imam has in mind is confirmed by his reference to
'intercession' in verse 25 (on the relationship between these two, cf. note 172).

45. On the Prophet's
intercession, cf. Padwick, Muslim Devotions pp. 37 ff. and Encyclopaedia of Islam (old
edition), 'Shafa'a'. The commentator points out here that the Prophet's intercession
alluded to in the Qur'an as his 'praiseworthy station' (17:79) - will be of several types,
including the raising of those who are already in paradise to higher degrees. Hence there
is no contradiction between the sinlessness of the Imams on the one hand and the Prophet's
interceding for them on the other.

46. Cf. 25:70: On
Resurrection Day... God will change the evil deeds [of those who repent, have faith, and
do righteous works] into good deeds.

47. The bearers of the
Throne are said to be four angels, one on each corner of the Throne, who will be aided by
four more on the Day of Resurrection. Hence the Qur'an says: Upon that day eight shall
bear above them the Throne of thy Lord (69: I7). On the various kinds of angels, see S.
Murata, 'The Angels,' in S.H. Nasr (ed.), Islamic Spirituality: Foundations New York,
1987, pp. 324-44.

49. The veils meant here are
those referred to in the hadith often quoted in Sunni sources: 'God has seventy' - or
'seventy thousand' - 'veils of light and darkness; were they to be removed, the glories of
His face would incinerate everything perceived by the creatures' eyes.' Shi'ite sources
add several parallel hadith from the Prophet and the Imams (see Bihar al-Anwar v, 39-47,
Bab al-hujub wa l-astar wa l-suradiqat). Cf. Supplication 50.5, where mention is made of
God's 'splendour masked by the veils'.

66. The Qur'an often
mentions God's scheming and devising, usually in answer to the trickery and deception of
the evildoers. For example: They are scheming, and I am scheming. So respite the
unbelievers; delay with them for a time (86:15); They devised, and God devised, and God is
the best of devisers (3:54).

67. God's protecting the
servant from Himself is for Him to guard him against His wrath. 'Guidance to God' is
guidance to His mercy, while being taken 'far from Him' is to be subjected to wrath. Cf.
the introduction and passages such as 48.13 and 73.1.

77. The term 'caprice'
denotes any desire that is opposed to the truth or turns man away from the divine
guidance. Who is further astray than he who follows his own caprice without guidance from
God? (28:50) Obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, so that he
follows his own caprice (18:28). God addresses David with the command: Judge among men by
the truth, and follow not caprice (38:26).

78. Reference to 12:53:
Surely the soul of man commands to evil, except inasmuch as my Lord has mercy.

81. Reference to 27:62: He
who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him, and removes the evil.

82. Allusion to the
principle enunciated in the well known hadith: 'God's mercy precedes His wrath', a
constant theme of the Sahifa, as pointed out in the introduction.

83. Allusion to such
Qur'anic verses as Whosoever does evil, or wrongs himself, and then prays God's
forgiveness, he shall find God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate (4:110).

84. Reference to such
Qur'anic verses as Supplicate Me and I will respond to you (40:60), and When My servants
ask from Me, I am near: I respond to the supplication of the supplicator when he
supplicates Me (2:186).

85. Cf. the hadith mentioned
in the introduction: 'When one of you supplicates, he should not say: "O God, forgive
me if Thou wilt", but he should be firm in his asking and make his desire great, for
what God gives is nothing great for Him' (Muslim, Dhikr 8).

88. Reference to such
Qur'anic verses as: O people, you are the poor toward God, and He is without need,
praiseworthy (35:15).

89. A case can be made for
translating the word dhalim (wrongdoer) in the context of the present supplication as
'oppressor' or 'tyrant', especially if we read the text as expressing the Imam's
relationships with the Umayyad authorities. However, the word dhulm along with its
derivatives is an important and frequently used term in the Qur'an, and only the Qur'anic
context can provide us with a reliable insight into the way the word must have been
understood by Zayn al-'Abidin and his contemporaries. In the Qur'an, it is obvious that
terms like 'oppression' and 'tyranny', with their narrow political connotations, cannot
begin to do justice to the wide range of meanings included in the primary Qur'anic
significance, since oppression is merely one of many forms of human 'wrongdoing', an
English term which is sufficiently vague and concrete to render the Qur'anic idea rather
closely. According to the Qur'an, the basic meaning of dhulm is to deny the reality of God
and the truth of His revelation and then to transgress the bounds, limits, laws, and
statutes He has set down. This Qur'anic concept can clearly be perceived in such typical
verses as the following: Who does greater wrong than he who bars God's places of worship,
so that His Name be not rehearsed in them, and strives to destroy them? (2:114); Who does
greater wrong than he who conceals a testimony received from God? (2:140); Whosoever
transgresses the bounds of God - those are the wrongdoers (2:229); And the unbelievers -
they are the wrongdoers (2:254); Whoso judges not according to what God has sent down -
they are the wrongdoers (5:45); Who does greater wrong than he who forges against God a
lie, or cries lies to His signs? (7:37, 10:17); Who does greater wrong than he who, being
reminded of the signs of his Lord, turns away from them? (18:57, 32:22); None denies Our
signs but the wrongdoers (29:49); Do not associate others with God; to associate others
with God is a mighty wrong (31:13); And whoso repents not, those - they are the wrongdoers
(49:1l); Whoso trespasses the bounds of God has done wrong to himself (65:1). In most of
the cases in which the Imam employs the term in the Sahifa, the Qur'anic context is clear,
and this is sufficient reason to maintain consistency of translation in the present
supplication, where 'oppression' might also be a valid translation. (For uses of the term
in obvious Qur'anic contexts, cf. 1.12, 4.8, 8.4, 12.7, 12.11, 16.31, 24.11, 31.7, 37.8,
39.9, 42.16, 45.9, 45.47, 47.62, 47.132, 48.15, 51.14, 60.3, 63.8, 71.5; contexts which
suggest 'oppression' as a valid rendering include 20.7, 51.4, 68.1). The term dhulm is
often used as the opposite of 'adl or 'justice'; the Sahifa also provides a few instances
where 'injustice' would translate the term well, such as 22.13 (where it is used as a
synonym for jawr, translated there as 'injustice'), 25.11, 44.l0.

91. Allusion to such
Qur'anic verses as: We shall surely destroy the wrongdoers (14:13); We have prepared for
the wrongdoers a painful chastisement (25:37)

92. Again reference to
27:62: He who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him, and removes the evil.

93. A believer who cannot
perform the obligatory acts of worship because of illness is credited with them in any
case. The commentator cites a number of hadith to this effect, e.g.: 'When the believer
becomes sick, God says to the angel charged with him: "Write for him what you used to
write when he was healthy".'

98. Reference to the
principle enunciated in 2:264: O believers, void not your freewill offerings with
obligation and harm, as one who expends of his substance to show off to men and believes
not in God and the Last Day.

99. i.e., 'Being gentle'.
The expression is employed in 15:88 and 26:215.

100. That is, the return to
God, alluded to with verbs from the same root in many Qur'anic verses, such as He
originates creation, then He makes it return (10:4). The word ma'ad becomes a standard
term in Islamic thought for 'eschatology' and discussion of affairs having to do with the
next world.

101. Allusion to 78: 21-23:
Behold, Gehenna has become an ambush, for the insolent a resort, therein to tarry for
ages....

102. Here the word
'guardianship' (wilaya) probably does not have a technical sense (on which, see note 219),
but is employed in a more general sense as in the title to Supplication 5.

113. This passage can be
read in two ways: In the more general interpretation, the 'us' in 'ennobled us' and 'made
incumbent upon us' refers to all Muslims, while in the more specific interpretation, it
refers to the Imams. In the first case, the 'rights' are those which all Muslims have in
relationship to other Muslims, as explained, for example, in the Imam's 'Treatise on
Rights'. In the second case, the rights are those of the Imams in respect to other
Muslims. The commentator quotes among others the Prophet's hadith of 'seven rights' (see
the introduction to the 'Treatise on Rights') to illustrate the first interpretation. If
we read it the second way, then 'the rights of the Imams are obvious, since all the rights
which God has made obligatory upon the creatures for the Messenger of God are also
obligatory for the Imams. Sufficient proof of this is provided by the Qur'anic verse: Obey
God, and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you (4:59)' (Sayyid '''Alikhan).

117. One is tempted to
translate shahawat as 'lusts', but the Qur'anic context shows that the objects of desire
in themselves are not necessarily negative; the Qur'an blames only the fact that man
allows himself to be occupied by them in lieu of God. For example, Decked out fair to men
is the love of passions - women, children, heaped-up heaps of gold and silver, horses of
mark, cattle, and tillage. That is the enjoyment of the present life; but God - with Him
is the fairest resort (3:14). Arberry translates the term here as 'lusts', Pickthall as
'joys'.

121. That is, those who
recognize the Imamate of Zayn al-'Abidin and the other Imams. Cf. 47.64.

122. Sayyid '''Alikhan
explains the expression as meaning: 'Give them lutf (gracefulness, gentleness, subtlety)
in their makr (guile, stratagem) so that their enemy will not become aware of their guile,
for then it will be too subtle and fine to be perceived by the intellect and the
understanding; so the meaning is that God should inspire them with careful watchfulness
and excellence of artful stratagems.' He suggests that the text may also be interpreted to
mean: Be kind and gentle to them in relation to the guile of their enemy, so that his
guile will not harm them.

124. The commentator
devotes a long discussion to the word mihal, which occurs in the Qur'anic name of God,
shadid al-mihal (13:13). It may signify, among others, cunning, guile, stratagem,
planning, managing, power, strength, dispute, enmity, punishment, vengeance, chastisement.

125. This victory of a
small army of Muslims over a much larger contingent of unbelievers took place in the year
2/623. Many accounts are given of how the angels also took part in the fighting, and it is
said to be in reference to Badr that God says in the Qur'an, When thy Lord was revealing
to the angels: 'I am with you, so strengthen the faithful. I shall cast terror into the
hearts of the unbelievers' (8:12).

135. Reference to the
Qur'anic account of Iblis, in which Iblis asks from God and is given permission to try to
lead His servants astray until the Day of Resurrection (7:14-18, 15:36-43, 38:79-86).

136. Reference to 59:16:
Like Satan, when he said to man, 'Disbelieve!' Then, when he disbelieved, he said: 'Surely
I am quit of you. Surely I fear God, the Lord of the worlds.'

137. Reference to 32:7: He
originated the creation of man out of clay, then He fashioned his progeny of an extraction
of mean water, then He shaped him and breathed His spirit into him.

138. Reference to a number
of Qur'anic passages, especially 23:12-14: We created man of an extraction of clay, then
We set him, a drop, in a receptacle secure, then We created of the drop a clot, then We
created of the clot a tissue, then We created of the tissue bones, then We garmented the
bones with flesh; thereafter We produced him as another creature.

139. As the commentators
point out, this 'placing' is connected to the Qur'anic doctrine of the transformation of
evil deeds into good deeds, e.g.: Whosoever does that shall meet the price of sin... save
him who repents, has faith, and does righteous works - those, God will change their evil
deeds into good deeds (25:68-70).

140. This is part of a
hadith; cf. Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. ibqa'.

148. The commentator
suggests that the expression shakartahu, 'for which Thou showest gratitude', which is
found in most texts, means qabaltahu, 'which Thou acceptest'. He adds that another ancient
text has shukir bihi, 'for which Thou art thanked', and that this is clearer and more
appropriate in the context. Cf. the similar passages in 46.6-7.

149. Allusion to such
Qur'anic verses as Whoso brings a good deed shall have ten the like of it; and whoso
brings an evil deed shall only be recompensed the like of it; they shall not be wronged
Cf. 40:40.

151. The Persian
translators read this as meaning, 'pardon me (mara bibakhsh) in spite of my wrongdoing
against myself', and Mohani's English translation agrees:

152. Reference to several
Qur'anic names for the people of paradise. The Companions of the Right Hand are mentioned
in 56:27, 38, 90, 91, and 74:39; the Secure in 27:89, 34:37, etc.; the Triumphant in 9:20,
23:111, 59:20; the Righteous in 2:130, 12:101, etc.

163. According to Sayyid
''Alikhan, by 'witnesses' the Imam means either those who bear witness to God's Unity and
to the prophets, since the Qur'an is their greatest proof, or the Prophet and his
Household, who are (according to the Shi'ite interpretation) the witnesses referred to in
the verse Thus We appointed you a midmost nation that you might be witnesses to the
people, and that the Messenger might be a witness to you (2:143).

164. Here the prayer's
specific reference to the Imam's own situation leads the commentators to suggest altering
the text when it is recited. Sayyid ''Alikhan suggests that one should make the following
changes: warrathtana -> warrathta awsiya'ahu; faddaltana -> faddaltahum; qawwaytana
-> qawwaytahum; tarfa'ana -> tarfa'ahum. The meaning would then be: 'Thou madest his
executors the heirs of its knowledge as interpreters, Thou preferred them over him who is
ignorant of its knowledge, and Thou gavest them strength to lift them above...'.

165. Allusion to 20:130:
Proclaim thy Lord's praise.... in the watches of the night, and at the ends of the day.

166. Allusion to 59:21: If
We had sent down the Qur'an upon a mountain, thou wouldst have seen it humbled, split
asunder out of the fear of God.

167. Allusion to two
Qur'anic verses: They shall be secure from terror on that day (27:89) and The Greatest
Terror shall not grieve them (21:103).

168. Allusion to 8: 6: As
though they were being driven into death with their eyes open and 50:21: And death's agony
comes in truth.... And every soul will come, with it a driver and a witness.

172. The 'mediation' is
mentioned in 5:35: O you who have faith, fear God and seek the mediation to Him.
'Mediation' may mean simply the means of access to God, defined in terms of any work of
obedience or pious act. But most commentators point out the verse's connection to a
well-known saying of the Prophet concerning 'mediation' as the highest station of
Paradise, and this in turn is normally defined as the permission God will give to the
Prophet at the Resurrection to intercede for his community. The Prophet said: 'When you
hear the muezzin, repeat what he says, then call down blessings upon me. If someone calls
down a blessing upon me, God will call down ten upon him. Then ask that I be given the
mediation, for it is a station in the Garden suited only for one of God's servants, and I
hope to be that one. If anyone asks that I be given the mediation, my intercession for him
will become lawful' (Muslim, Salat 11; Tirmidhi, Manaqib I; Abu Dawud, Salat 36; Ahmad II,
168, 265; III 83). Padwick discusses the connection between mediation and intercession in
Muslim Devotions, Ch. 2, 'The Prayer of Mediation' (the relationship between the two can
be seen in the present work in 65.4-5, 66.3-4, 78.1). On the mediation of the Imams, see
note 217.

173. Allusion to the 'Pool
of Abundance' in Paradise, which, according to several hadith, is the meaning of the
'Abundance' which God gave to the Prophet as mentioned in 108:1.

174. Allusion to 36:39: And
the moon - We have determined it by mansions, till it returns like an aged palm-bough.

177. Sayyid ''Alikhan
offers four interpretations for this last clause, three given by earlier commentators and
the fourth his own: (a) so that the acts of obedience and nearness-seeking of the angels
will be less than ours; (b) so that none of the recording angels will bring the record of
our sins except that they be less than the kinds of obedience and sorts of nearness
seeking that we bring; (c) so that none of the angels will bring the works of the servants
except that they be less than the kinds of obedience and sorts of nearness seeking that we
bring; (d) so that none of the angels will bring our good works except that they be less
than the good works that we ourselves bring. In support of the last reading he cites a
hadith from one of the Imams: 'The angel only writes down what it hears, but God has said,
Remember thy Lord in thyself, in pleading and fear (7:205). So none knows the reward of
the remembrance in the person's self except God.' He concludes that the best
interpretation is to say that the passage includes all four of these meanings.

191. That is, the Ramadan
of the year that has just passed and that of the coming year.

192. That is, we have been
afflicted by the hardship of having to fast. This interpretation follows Sayyid
''Alikhan's reading; the Persian translators interpret the sentence to mean: 'our being
afflicted by grief at the passing of our month', a reading which Sayyid ''Alikhan rejects.

199. The ninth of Dhu
l-Hijja, the last day of the hajj, when the pilgrims occupy themselves with prayer at
Mount 'Arafa. Cf. Imam Husayn's long supplication for the day, translated in Chittick, A
Shi'ite Anthology, pp. 93-113.

210. The terms 'howness'
and 'whereness' are found already in hadith attributed to the Prophet in Shi'ite sources,
as well as to some of the Imams (cf. Chittick, A Shi'ite Anthology index under ayniyyah
and kayfiyyah. The term 'selfness' (dhatiyya) is certainly more rare. Lane in his Lexicon
points out that it is a post-classical term used in philosophy, but in the present context
it has no such philosophical sense and seems to be a coinage built on the analogy of the
other two terms.

212. The 'Separator' is the
Qur'an (cf. Supplication 42.2). There is an allusion here to 15:94: Therefore cleave [0
Muhammad] by means of that which thou art commanded [i.e. the Qur'anic injunctions] and
turn away from the idolaters.

214. The guardians or
writers are the recording angels. Cf. Supplication 3.18. The 'book' mentioned here is
referred to in such verses as: The Book shall be set in place; and thou wilt see the
sinners fearful at what is in it and saying: 'Alas for us! How is it with this Book that
it leaves nothing behind, small or great but it has numbered it?' (18:49).

215. Allusion to 18:109:
Say: 'If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be spent before the
words of my Lord are spent.'

216. Reference to 33:33:
Folk of the House God only desires to put away from you uncleanness and to purify you.

217. Muslims hold that
'mediation' will be given to the Prophet (see note 172), while Shi'ite tradition adds that
it will also belong to the Imams. Cf. the chapter in Majlisi's Bihar al-Anwar 'The
Mediation, and the station of the Prophet and the Folk of his House which will become
manifest at the resurrection' (VII, 326-40). Among relevant sayings quoted in both Shi'ite
and Sunni sources is that of 'Ali: 'In the Garden there are two pearls within the Throne,
one of them white and the other yellow. In each there are 70,000 rooms whose gates and
cups come from a single root. The white is the Mediation which belongs to Muhammad and his
Household, while the yellow belongs to Abraham and his household' (commentary on 5:35:
al-Tabarsi, Majma' al-bayan; Maybudi, Kashf al-Asrar).

219. The 'Friend' or wali
is the Imam, who, in keeping with the various meanings of the root, is 'friend' of God,
'guardian' of the people under his care, and 'authority' in all matters of religious
teaching. His function, known as wilaya (or walaya) and derived from the same Arabic root,
is discussed in most books on Shi'ism; in the present text the word is mentioned, not
always in the technical sense, in Supplications 5 (title); 8.3; 20.7, 22; 26.1; 47.64; and
77.2.

222. Cf. Moses'
supplication in 20:31: Appoint for me of my folk a familiar, Aaron, my brother; by him
brace up my back.

223. Like the previous
clause, this is an allusion to the story of Moses and Aaron in the Qur'an, and more
specifically, to God's words to Moses: We shall strengthen thy arm by means of thy brother
(28:35).

230. Allusion to 4:108:
They hide themselves from men but hide themselves not from God.

231. Allusion to 7:182: We
will draw them on little by little from whence they know not; and I grant them respite -
surely My guile is firm. Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq says: 'When God desires good for a servant
who commits a sin, He causes the sin to be followed by a punishment so that he remembers
to ask forgiveness. But when He desires evil for a servant who commits a sin, He causes
the sin to be followed by a favour so that he forgets to ask forgiveness and persists in
the sin. This is indicated by God's words We draw them on little by little from whence
they know not. (Sayyid ''Alikhan)

233. In other words: Do not
allow me to become diverted from the worship and obedience which please Thee by my seeking
after the things of this world, which come only through Thee.

234. Allusion to 5:35: O
you who have faith fear God and seek the mediation to Him. Cf. note 172.

235. The commentator
suggests that this is an allusion to the principle enunciated in 18:103-104: Say: Shall I
tell you who will be the greatest losers in their works? Those whose striving goes astray
in the present life while they think that they are working good deeds .

237. Reference to 66:8:
Upon the day when God will not degrade the Prophet and those who believe with him their
light running before them and on their right hands.

238. Allusion to 19:75:
Say: Whoever is in error, let the All-merciful prolong his term for him!....

239. Cf. above, 47.60,
where mention is made of the 'radiance' of the Imam.

240. Cf. the following
hadith: 'God has left no excuses for him who has reached sixty or seventy years of age.
God has left him no excuses, no excuses!' (Ahmad II, 275). See also Lane, Arabic-English
Lexicon s.v. i'dhar.

241. Reference to 7:186:
Whomsoever God leads astray no guide has he; He leaves them in their insolence blindly
wandering.

242. Reference to 23:54: So
leave them in their perplexity for a time.

243. The commentator offers
three possible interpretations: remove not my name from the register of the felicitous,
writing it in the register of the wretched; change my name not for the worse, after it had
been an elevated name; change not the name by which Thou hadst named us before (alluding
to the Qur'anic verse: He named you Muslims aforetime and in this [22:78]). The meaning
thus becomes: Name me not an unbeliever after Thou hast named me a Muslim.

244. The commentator
explains this to mean: Transform it not through an affliction in this world or through
making it ugly in the next.

245. Reference to 56:88-9:
Then if he be of those brought nigh to the Throne, there shall be repose and ease, and a
garden of bliss.

246. Allusion to 2:16:
Those are they who have bought error at the price of guidance, and their commerce has not
profited them.

247. Reference to 79:6-12:
Upon the day when the first blast shivers,... They shall say, 'What, are we being restored
as we were before?... That then is a return with loss!'

248. Allusion to 15:47: We
shall root out all rancour that is in their breasts (cf. 7:43).

250. The commentator sees
this as a reference to the first Muslims, as in 9:100: And the foremost, the first, who
are the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those who followed them in good-doing - God will be
well-pleased with them...; He has prepared for them gardens... The 'plain' of the first is
the place where they are brought together at the Resurrection.

252. That is, the tenth of
Dhu l-Hijja, which marks the end of the hajj and is one of the two major festivals (along
with the feast of fastbreaking) celebrated universally throughout the Islamic world.

254. By 'this station' is
meant the leading of the prayer of Friday and of the Day of Sacrifice. The latter of these
prayers is obligatory according to the Shi'ites, in contrast to the Sunnis. Zayn al-Abidin
alludes to the Shi'ite view that the Imams are the rightful leaders of these prayers for
all Islam, not the Umayyad caliphs and their representatives. In explaining the meaning of
this passage, Sayyid ''Alikhan quotes a hadith from Ja'far al-Sadiq: 'Both festivals of
the Muslims, that of fastbreaking and that of sacrifice, renew the sorrow of the Household
of Muhammad, for they see therein their right in the hands of others.'

255. i.e., those who
actually put the profession of Unity, faith, and attestation into practice.

256. Allusion to the
Prophet's supplication quoted in the introduction: 'I seek refuge in Thy good pleasure
from Thy displeasure and in Thy pardon from Thy punishment. I seek refuge in Thee from
Thee.'

257. Allusion to 43:11:
[We] sent down out of heaven water in measure; and We revived thereby a land that was
dead; even so you shall be brought forth [on the Day of Resurrection].

258. Allusion to 21:23: He
is not questioned as to what He does, but they shall be questioned.

259. For 'so and so' the
supplicant should supply words appropriate to his own situation.

262. This is the Book of
Records on the Day of Judgement, mentioned, for example, in 18:49: And the Book shall be
set in place; and thou wilt see the sinners fearful at what is in it, saying: 'Alas for
us! How is it with this Book, that it leaves nothing behind, small or great, but it has
counted it?' Cf. 17:13-14.

263. Allusion to such
Qur'anic verses as: Not so much as the weight of an ant in heaven and earth escapes from
Him, neither is aught smaller than that, or greater, but it is in a Manifest Book (34:3).

265. Cf. the following
sentence from a supplication of the Prophet: 'I ask Thee by every one of Thy names by
which Thou hast named Thyself, which Thou hast taught to one of Thy creatures, which Thou
hast sent down in Thy Book, or which Thou hast kept to Thyself in the knowledge of the
Unseen' (Ahmad I, 391, 402). A passage from the same hadith is quoted in Supplication
21.6.

273. Allusion to such
verses as 8:68: Had it not been for a prior writ from God, there had afflicted you, for
what you took, a dreadful chastisement.

274. This verse and the
following allude to the well-known hadith qudsi: 'Might is My loincloth and mightiness My
cloak. If anyone contends with Me in either of these, I will cast him into Gehenna.' Cf.
W. Graham, Divine Word and Prophetic Word, pp. 162-3.

275. This is probably an
allusion to the Highest Assembly, the angels mentioned in 37:8 and 38:69.

277. Cf. 9:78: Know they
not that God knows their secret and their whispered conversation, and that God knows the
things unseen? See also 43:80, 58:7.

278. Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
(d. 124/742) was a well known jurist and traditionist and, as mentioned in the
introduction, is credited with being the first to call the Imam by the title 'Zayn
al-'Abidin'. Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib (d. 94/712-713), one of the 'seven jurists' of Medina,
was known as the 'Chief of the Followers' (sayyid al-tabi'in), that is, those who followed
the generation of the Prophet's Companions.

309. Allusion to 70:19-21:
Surely man was created fretful, when evil touches him, anxious, when good visits him,
grudging.

310. Allusion to the
Qur'anic verse: No indeed, but what they were earning has rusted upon the hearts (83:14),
as well as to the several instances where the Qur'an refers to the sealing of the
unbelievers' hearts, e.g.: God has set a seal on their hearts, so they know not (9:93).

312. Allusion to a well
known formula found in many hadith; in one version, the Prophet says in supplication: 'The
good - all of it - is in Thy hands, and evil does not return to Thee' (Muslim, Musafirin
201; Nasa'i, Iftitah 17).